Birth. In the movies.....

A few nights ago I went to a movie hosted by the Birthing Network of Santa Cruz called Born in the USA. Bruce Springsteen is not who I saw wailing and sweating throughout this flick, instead it were women giving birth, using various methods practiced today. In the film you meet three birth caregivers—a obstetrician, a nurse-midwife, and a licensed home birth midwife—each with a dramatically different idea about what constitutes best care for birthing women. The film show how these women see their work and what factors—medical, legal, and cultural—influence women's choices in the birthing room. In general the film was very informative and "neutral", letting the viewer truly see what happens in these different circumstances under various forms of care offered to pregnant women today. Al thought there was a lovely home birth that took place that was so fluid and relaxed compared to the birth that took place in the hospital, what made my stomach turn was the fact that women today in my opinion are "brainwashed" when it comes to birth. Now I am just generalizing here.....most women today have this perception of birth as painful, stressful, and potentially dangerous procedure! A procedure that our bodies may fall apart during and desperately need intervention! We have movies, media and of course our culture in general to thank for this warped and twisted view on one of the most beautiful events any human can experience or be apart of. What would be different if we taught our daughters what a blissful experience it is? and prepared them from a more positive and encouraging outcome?

Born in the USA, features on the Oxygen channel, was insightful as to what is really going on in the birthing rooms of the general public. It got me fired up! I instantly had the desire to share more natural and less stressful forms of birthing with women all over the planet. Women shouldn't have to enter into pregnancy with fear, worry and doubt just because someone else experienced that "version". Our society is being programmed to accept the tv shows and movies's version of birth. A women will enter into the birthing process with fear right off the bat if showed nothing but other women's massive freak outs, scratching, screaming, agonizing pain and intervention to the rescue. This false picture of what birthing really is and what could be, leaves little room for another "outcome" to be the "norm". Actually enjoying birth or the potential that HEY! maybe she can do this natural after all and feel loved and nurchured in the process IS infact a reality Heck! We were built for birth and dang it...we've been at it since the beginning of time with no sterile face masks, gloves, needles, and certainly not flat on our backs in a stiff bed not able to move!

I noticed in Born in USA with the exception of the home birthing momma, not a single laboring women was in the squatting position which happens to be a very helpful position to help guide the baby's head on through the mother's pelvis with gravity. Why didn't the doctors suggest this to the laboring women? I was hoping they did and just not film it. However, there they were on their backs, stuck on the bed and hooked up to monitors, IV and other equiptment. (One women was concidered low risk and still connected to all this crap) Of course the position and all the cords would not help cope with the sensations of birth! How could any women relax and let go? The movie mentioned that some culture's find it offensive to be on all fours odd to tone with their voices, and un-lady like to squat for birth. ARE you SERIOUS! So you mean to tell me the obvious position of being upright in a squat so gravity can help is viewed as not so nice, but laying flat on your back, legs strapped into stirrups and 5 people peering in on your vagina with plastic shields over their faces is totally fine and normal?? wow. That "picture" is the picture given to us in the "movies" our whole lives and it does happen in real life! I was upset and I felt sadness for the women in the documentary which represents a hugs number of women that deal with this as "normal" everyday in the USA!

Momma Mango's Manifesto: I would love to see truely empowering birthing classes that dig into the "untraditional" methods and offer it to every single pregnant Goddess. These classes would teach breathing techniques, beautiful movement and that it is natural and OK to sway those hips, squat, vocalize, visualize and be primal in the birthing process. I see a birthing class where instead of concentrating on all the drugs they an be doped up on, they concentrate on all magic their bodies are designed for and encourage ways the body can relax and truely birth naturally. I believe that cultivating these somewhat lost yet basic natural instincts would lift the layer so that all women would realize that maybe, juts maybe they can do this and they are this rightous and most gorgeous goddess in the birthing process!

From a young age, if we were all taught that birth is sacred, poweful, magical and yes full of sensation that may be intense at times.....I believe we would have a very different world! A world where more women stepped into their power and other women rejoiced in lifting one another up!
mmm...that feels so good!